Misalignment in imaging multifibers

A statistical approach is used to characterize image transmission through misaligned multifibers, i.e., differently arranged at the input and output faces, leading to a spatially invariant line spread function. The resulting MTF is the product of the MTF for the aligned system and a function characterizing stochastic departures from alignment. The case of circular fibers with Gaussian misalignment is treated theoretically and is found to account satisfactorily for experimentally observed results.